Filipino Care Workers may Benefit as Japan Eases Visa Norms
TOKYO: In what could benefit thousands of Filipinos seeking job in the country, the Japanese government is planning to add a new resident status category aimed at foreign care workers to make it easier for such workers to be employed there, government sources have said.
The proposed legal amendment is likely to be submitted to the DIET as early as the beginning of next month in an attempt to get the bill passed during the current ordinary DIET session, the sources were quoted as saying by ABS-CBN News.
The proposal is part of a government’s efforts to use qualified care workers from overseas to address labor shortage in the field as Japan’s elderly population increases further, the report said.
The amendment has already been approved in legislative meetings of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party and its junior coalition party Komeito. Cabinet is likely to give its nod shortly, it added.
Currently, only citizens of Indonesia, Philippines and Vietnam are allowed to work in the field in Japan under economic partnership agreements.
Those from other countries, even if they have obtained relevant qualifications in Japan, are currently unable to work in the field due to the lack of an appropriate resident status category, said the news portal.
In an unrelated development, the government plans to make submitting false declarations punishable by up to three years imprisonment in an effort to crack down on misuse of the visa system, and to promptly revoke resident status when migrants are found to be doing something entirely different from the activities specified in their visa, the sources were quoted as saying by ABS-CBN News.